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VERNET 196 VERONA sity. He was then made Professor of Slavonic Languages at the University of Copenhagen. He was the author of "An Example of the First Permutation of Consonants" (in 1875). This article, which was widely read, had consider- able influence, Verner likewise wrote many other articles for linguistic period- icals. He died Nov. 5, 1896. VERNET, JEAN EMILE HORACE, a French painter; grandson of Claude Joseph Vernet, a distinguished painter of sea pieces and seaport scenes; son ol Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, painter of battle and genre pictures; born in Paris, France, June 30, 1789. His first master in art was his father, and at an early age he acquired the favor of the imperial court by his battle pieces, in which he adopted a realistic treatment in opposition to the classical school of David. His pictures connected with the wars of Napoleon are very numerous. In 1828 Charles X. appointed him director of the French Academy in Rome, a post he ably filled till the end of 1834, pro- ducing a series of pictures, partly his- torical, partly genre. Louis Philippe then commissioned him to paint galleries of the museum at Versailles with scenes re- lating to the conquest of Algeria, a counti'y which he several times visited. In 1840 we find him traveling in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria; in 1842 he accom- panied the Emperor Nicholas on a jour- ney from St. Petersburg to Sebastopol; and in 1845 he visited Spain and Algeria. In 1853 he followed the French army to Varna, but soon returned to Paris and produced his last great picture, "The Battle of the Alma." He died in Paris, Jan. 17, 1863. VERNIER (named after the inventor, Peter Vernier, of Brussels, who de- scribed it in a tract printed in 1631), a contrivance for measuring fractional portions of one of the equal spaces into which a scale or limb, or a graduated instrument is divided. The vernier con- sists of a graduated scale, so arranged as to cover an exact number of spaces on the primary scale, or limb, to which it is applied. The vernier is divided into a number of equal parts, greater or less by 1, than the number of spaces which it covers on the limb. The vernier scale is 1 1-10 inches in length, and is divided into 10 equal parts, each embracing 11-100 of an inch, and therefore exceed- ing each division of the scale by 1-100 of an inch. If, therefore, any division of the vernier coincide with a division on the scale, that division, counting downward, when the of the vernier co- incides with the top of the mercurial col- umn, indicates the number of hundredths of an inch to be added to the tenths di- vision on the scale next above which the of the vernier stands. VERNON, EDWARD, a British naval officer; born in Westminster, England, Nov. 12, 1684; was well educated, and following a strong natural bent, entered the royal navy. He served in the battle of Vigo Bay, Oct. 12, 1702, and with Sir George Rooke at Malaga in 1704, and soon got a captaincy. Made M. P. for Penryn (1727), and for Portsmouth (1734-1741), he boasted in the House of Commons that he could take Porto Belle with six ships. Sent off with the speci- fied number of vessels, he fulfilled his boast, Nov. 22, 1739. In 1741, however, he failed in his attack on Cartagena, but his popularity was undiminished, and he long represented Ipswich in Parlia- ment. Smollett, who acompanied him to Cartagena, has immortalized the expedi- tion in "Roderick Random." In 1746 he was removed from the list of admirals, through a dispute with the admiralty. Vernon published "A New History of Ja- maica from the Earliest Account to the Taking of Porto Bello" (1740), and "Original Papers Relating to the Expedi- tion to Panama" (1744). He died in Nacton, Suffolk, Oct. 29, 1757. VERONA, an ancient city of northern Italy ; capital of the province of the same name; picturesquely situated at the foot of the Tyrolese Alps, and on both banks of the Adige; 72 miles W. by N. of Ven- ice. It is a member of the famous Quad- rilateral, having fortifications of unusual strength, and is interesting no less as a great center of historical associations than as a celebrated home of art, rich in classical and mediaeval monuments of architecture. The Adige is here crossed by five bridges, and on the tongue of land on the W. side lies by far the greater part of the city. Foremost among the antiquities is the amphitheater, probably erected under Diocletian (a. d. 284), and which brings out in its full perfection the massive grandeur of the true Roman style. It is 106 feet high and 528 yards in circumference, and rises in 45 tiers of gray marble steps, capable of accommo- dating 25,000 spectators sitting and 70,- 000 standing. Most of the outside range of arches is lost, but the internal seats have been wonderfully preserved by a custom of repairing them which has gone on unbrokenly through all the ages, and which has become a part of the history of the building. An- other antiquity, the great gate of Ve- rona, the Porta de Borsari, now span- ning one of the busiest streets, was